The Reader Online

The competition is underway for the 2010 Dylan Thomas Prize, the world’s top literary prize for young writers. The annual prize, named in honor of the famous Welsh writer and poet, and sponsored by the government of Wales, brings with it international prestige as well as a cash award of £30,000 ($46,000).

The Prize honors its shortlist finalists and annual winner for published work in the broad range of literary forms in which Dylan Thomas excelled, including poetry, prose, fictional drama, short story collections, novels, novellas, stage plays and screenplays.

The official launch of the 2010 Prize will take place this year at a ceremony and reception hosted at the British Consulate-General in Boston on March 1. Special guests and speakers will include Harvard Review Editor Christina Thompson, Tessa Dahl and former U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky.

Entries for the competition must be submitted by the publisher, editor, literary agent, or in the case of produced film scripts and stage plays, by the producer. Writers must be 18-30 years old, and the literary works must have been published within the past year to be eligible for competition.

Submission deadline is April 30, 2010.

Ever fancied learning, or brushing up on, a skill in the French sunshine?

Les Soeurs Anglaises run three and five day textile, creative writing, and dance workshops led by the very best, and most experienced, internationally renowned artists/teachers. Our 2010 programme includes a ‘Poetry in Motion’ 5 day workshop led by internationally respected poet Roger McGough, as well as screenwriting, crime, and creative writing courses – all led by masters of their genre.

Adrienne Rich posed the question – ‘ Where does poetry come from?’ and offered this answer:

… how we glimpse a blur of smoke in the air, look at a pair of shoes in a shop window, or a group of men on a street corner, how we hear rain on the roof or music on the radio upstairs, how we meet or avoid the eyes of a neighbour or a stranger. That pressure bends our angle of vision whether we recognize it or not…When poetry lays its hand on our shoulder we are, to an almost physical degree, touched and moved…

Penelope Shuttle, whom we have published in The Reader 18 (which you can buy here for only £3), has been in touch to tell us about a poetry residential course she is leading in France at Chateau Ventenac fro 24th April to 1st May. More details on the course, ‘Word and Self’, can be found here.

Call for Applications:

Greater North: Toronto Study Visit

Literature Northwest and Mslexia Magazine, in partnership with Arts Council England and the Scottish Arts Council, are seeking literature professionals working in strategic roles relating to the short story, and based in the north of England (the North West, North East, Yorkshire) or Scotland to take part in a group study visit to Toronto, including a visit to the 11th International Conference on the Short Story in English.

The trip will take place 14th-20th June this year. Please download this document for further details and application form: Word / PDF.

For more info on the Conference click here.

Deadline for application: Monday 1st February.

For more information contact Ra Page on ra.page@commapress.co.uk

Please note this offer of 16 places is conditional on as-yet unconfirmed ACE funding, and the final selection of delegates will be made by a panel of arts council officers.

The Stena Line Wigtown Book Festival presents the 2010 Wigtown Poetry Competition

The Wigtown Poetry Competition is the largest in Scotland with a first prize of £2,500, runner up prize of £750, eight additional prizes of £50 each and a Gaelic prize of £500. The winning poem and runner up will also be published in the Scotsman, or its sister paper Scotland on Sunday and will be invited to appear at the Stena Line Wigtown Book Festival 2010. The closing date of the competition is 5pm Friday 12th February 2010, and winners will be notified by Wednesday 5th April. The prize-giving will take place on Saturday 1st May.

There is more information about the Wigtown Poetry Competition online, including previous winners and judges for this year’s prize.

For all you budding writers out there, Creative Writing Courses offers workshops brimming with quality and variety, where you can meet with and learn from well know and successful published authors in idyllic surroundings. They will also be running some fun events in 2010 where you will be able to meet popular British authors in person.

Find out more on their website.

Anne Rooney, who is a children’s author (but does also write stuff for grown-ups), is on our Read to Lead accredited training course at Burton Manor, Cheshire, this week. This course is a bespoke package for a selection of writers that are fellows of the  Royal Literary Fund.  Anne is one of these fellows and she’s written about her first impressions on An Awfully Big Adventure Blog. Here’s an extract:

I hope I manage to get this post uploaded – I’m in the wilds of the Wirral (I think), where I’ve been sent for a week to learn how to read. Huh? Not quite. I’m here with eighteen other past and present RLF (Royal Literary Fund) fellows to become accredited ‘reading facilitators’. The course, run by The Reading Organisation, aims to create a ‘reading revolution’ in the country, getting everyone – really everyone – reading. We’ve only had the Sunday afternoon session so far, so it’s too early to say how it’s going to go.

Read in full here.

1. Remember that Novel? – For anyone writing one; 20-22 November at South Hooe, Devon; a weekend to revitalise flagging plotlines, sagging middles or crumpling climaxes (fictional). See website.

2. Sound and Silence A weekend exploring the interplay of poetry and meditation. Facilitated by Roselle Angwin and Martin Pitt 4th-7th December 2009
At The Barefoot Barn, Chagford, Devon.

This experimental weekend will explore the dynamics of inner peace and creative expression. Meditation, silence and mindfulness practice will be woven together with periods of creative writing and other forms such as movement, landscape work and visual media. The aim will be to nurture our personal stillness from where creativity can flow naturally; to allow our silent depths to find expression through the meaning and music of poetry. In this process we hope to share our experience within a small group in a spirit of dance, dynamism, and fun. Meditation practices will be introduced and conducted according to the mindfulness tradition of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh. No previous experience of meditation techniques is needed. The cost of this event has been kept low to encourage a wide-ranging participation. However, places are limited and early booking is advised.

www.fire-in-the-head.co.uk

The winners of the 19th Sefton Writing competition were announced on Sunday 15 November at the annual writing awards presentation at Crosby Civic Hall.

Hundreds of people entered this year, of all ages and from across the UK, there were even two entries from abroad. They came from writing groups, schools and individuals.

Brian Wake, Head of Sefton Arts Development said:

As the judges, we whittled the hundreds down to tens, we read them quietly to ourselves, we then read them out, we read them upside down and inside out, got ten down to seven or so in each of the three categories and then after much, as they say, deliberation, we began to comb through the seven pieces of work.. We began to ask what the work did in terms of emotion, in terms of the language itself and then we allowed our personal taste to help us decide.

Keep an eye on the Sefton Arts website for more Sefton Celebrates Writing events throughout the year.

The winners and runners up of this year’s Sefton Writing Competition are:

Writing (including poems) by young people

First Prize: Child Soldier by Philip Meakin (12years) Birkdale, Southport.

Runners-up: Past or Present by Katy Heron (12years) Southport; The Lift Off by Harry Draper (12years) Formby; Journey Home by Sarah Cutler (14years) Netherton; Snowflake’s Journey by Katy Louise Minko (12years) Formby.

Poetry

First Prize: Fetch by  Margaret Gleave, Ainsdale, Southport;

Runners-up: Cuckoo Spit by Nicholas Hancock, Liverpool; In Vino Memoriam by Celia Gentles, West Kirby, Wirral; Journey’s End by Michael O’Leary, Formby; The Cataraque by David Costello, Wallasey.

Other Writing

First Prize: Travelling Light  by Glenys Adams, Waterloo L22.

Runners-up:  Persona Non Grata by Kay Frame,  Maghull; Trudge of the Valyries  by Andrew Highton,  Waterloo L22; Holiday Journey by Alison Rutherford, Cardiff; Aliens Welcome by Frank Conlan, Maghull;

For more information on next years Sefton Writing Competition please contact Netherton Arts Centre on 0151 525 0417 or email: Philip.Wroe@leisure.sefton.gov.uk

The Anthony Walker Foundation Festival 2009 is taking place on Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th August 2009, at Greenbank Sports Academy, Greenbank Lane and Sefton Park, from 9am till 6pm.

It is a free two day festival of sport, music, art and education which works to encourage racial harmony and better community relations. There will be workshops promoting social and life skills, football tournaments, art workshops, music and dance performances, plus much more!

For more information on the Festival, please visit the Anthony Walker Foundation Website, where you can also view the Festival brochure.

If you would like tickets for the AWF Carnival at Alma De Cuba, please email: info@anthonywalkerfoundation.com